Kansas State Official Athletic Site

Powercat Strength

The Powercat strength and conditioning program is designed to "build better athletes," not to develop powerlifters, Olympic weightlifters, or body-builders. Powercat strength and conditioning trains the Wildcats to play the game!

Obviously, when most people think of strength coaches, they think of weightlifting. And Kansas State's newly-renovated strength complex boasts two weight rooms, over 12,000 square feet of floor space, 35,000 lbs. of weights, plus platforms, racks, benches, and machines. So weight training is a big part of the program. But Powercat strength and conditioning does not coach weightlifters, it trains athletes.

In the sport of weightlifting, it's all about how much weight you lift - the person who lifts the most weight wins. In strength and conditioning, it's all about being prepared to win on game day. That's what they do - prepare the Wildcats to win!

Speed development, agility, flexibility, coordination, endurance, and nutrition are some of the areas that fall under the umbrella of strength and conditioning. Kansas State strives to develop the total athlete through a total body program. K-State employs nutrition counters in both strength facilities to "fuel the athletes" and equip them to meet the demands of training.

Facilities

The new renovations to the Powercat strength facility and sports medicine area give Kansas State over 13,000 square feet of strength and conditioning/sports medicine work space in the Vanier Football Complex. Kansas State is blessed to have the type of first-rate facilities that allow student-athletes to develop to their fullest potential and become champions.

Meet The Staff

Chris Dawson
Director of Strength and Conditioning
First Year At K-State

A veteran of more than 15 years in the field of strength training, Chris Dawson was named Kansas State's new Director of Strength and Conditioning on Jan. 15, 2010 after spending the previous seven seasons as the head strength coach at Kansas.

A native of Houston, Texas, Dawson manages the department's total strength program, overseeing five full-time assistant coaches, while providing daily leadership for the Wildcat football strength and conditioning program. A former linebacker at Oklahoma (1992-94), he got his start in the business at his alma mater where he served as an assistant strength coach for five seasons, working with the Sooner football and men's basketball teams. He moved to Minnesota in 2001 where he spent the next two seasons as the head strength coach for the Gophers. Dawson then left for Kansas, where he was apart of four bowl teams with the Jayhawks in seven seasons, while he saw 29 players drafted by NFL teams, including six that were taken in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft.

Darren Honeycutt
Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach
Fourth Year at K-State

Honeycutt is in his fourth season as assistant strength coach at Kansas State, where he assists Dawson in all aspects of the football team's strength and conditioning program. Prior to arriving at K-State, he served as the assistant strength coach at Pittsburgh.

Honeycutt received his start as a strength and conditioning coach under former strength coach Mike Kent and worked as an assistant on the staff at Appalachian State from 1991-94. Honeycutt's background also includes plenty of Big 12 history. From 1994-96 he served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Texas Tech working with the
Red Raiders' football program. Honeycutt also worked in a similar position at Baylor from 1996-2000 before eventually being reunited with Kent at Louisville, where he worked with the Cardinals from 2000-2003.